Vanilla Twilight
by harvestmoonrox
Summary: Aiyana Burwell was murdered in 1918, while dating Edward Cullen. She wandered as a ghost, but is now a human temporarily--and a huge part of Edward and Jacob Black's lives. She loves them both. Whom will she choose before the gods redeem her body? R&R!
1. Chapter 1

PROLOGUE

"Aiya, please, I'm begging you. Choose. Choose me." Jacob pleaded, looking at me with those big, brown puppy dog eyes I'd grown to love. No, I take that back. This time, they contained hurt. And I was NOT used to seeing that.

Edward snarled then, his eyes cutting over to Jake. "She's going to choose me, mutt. I was her first kiss, love, boyfriend, date…and first time."

Jacob's eyes then flickered with anger, and he ground his teeth. "You _were _all that once. She can't take it back…but it's OVER now. Accept it."

"Listen, dog—"

"_Please_, stop," I interrupted, sighing and closing my eyes. "There are other people involved, too! Does Bella Swan ring any bells?!"

It was silent for a moment as I struggled to collect her thoughts.

My name is Aiyana Simone Burwell. Born October 11th, 1901, I was murdered in 1918 at only 17 years old, while dating my boyfriend, Edward Cullen. Since then, my spirit wandered as a ghost—more tortured than a shinigami…and with less purpose than a spirit who was sent straight to heaven or hell.

Until a few short months ago. I'd regained my body in hopes that I could find something to complete me, and finally send me home, where I'm meant to be.

I hadn't planned on meeting Edward once more, and falling for the sunny, warm Jacob Black.

"Aiya, if you choose him, and become a vampire, I won't be able to be around you anymore. At all. Do you want that?" Jake said.

"No…"

"Aiya, if you choose _him_, and go to live on the reservation, I won't be able to be around you as well. Is that what you desire?" Edward retorted.

"No…"

"Please, Aiya, pick. It's driving me insane. I'm sleeping less than usual, I'm not eating…" Jake whispered.

"I…I pick…" I stammered.

They stared at me.

_Jacob? _My eyes flickered over to him.

_Edward? _My eyes flickered over to him.

My mouth opened, but in an instant, I was cold. Freezing cold. Like I was dead.

I blinked and I collapsed to the floor, blacking out.

When I came to, I was back with the gods, Acacia and Artemis, who were frowning down at me.

"Your time is up."


	2. Chapter 2

_January 12__th__, 1917_

_Edward's House_

"Aiyana," Edward said, pulling her into a hug as she entered through the front door to his home. She smiled into him and giggled.

"Edward, be careful. What if someone sees?" She hissed, giggling as she kicked the door behind them shut. **(A/N: They're living in an extremely prejudiced time. Edward's white. Aiya/I am black.)**

He sighed, inhaling the smell of her spicy chocolate perfume. "I missed you. I abhor the fact that you and I can only be together for a few short moments every week," He kissed her on the cheek.

"I _am _here to do my job, remember?" Aiya subtly reminded. "I am your family's maid. Should they find us here together would have dire consequences for us both."

Edward frowned, and Aiya separated herself from him. "You wearing that outfit does not make this any easier."

She giggled, knowing he was referring to her sexy French maid uniform. She danced over to his parents' bedroom, lugging all of her supplies with her as she went.

"Shall I play you something while you work?"

"I'd like that," she called from the other room.

He sat at his grand piano and played a soft, soothing tune.

Once he'd finished his piece, and she'd moved onto his room, he came up behind her.

"Oh how I wish mankind would evolve and let us be together," he said sadly.

"Me, too, Edward. Me, too."

The home grew silent albeit the sounds of Aiyana cleaning the hardwood floor of Edward's room, and their breathing.

"EDWARD!" A beautiful Southern belle voice exclaimed, as she knocked on the front door. Edward tensed and Aiya frowned. They knew who it was.

Catherine Holiday. A.K.A., Edward's fiancée. Edward sighed.

"It's open, Catherine," he said, him and Aiya exchanging on last glance before she went back to cleaning the floors.

"Edward!" Catherine said, hugging Edward, her long blonde curls swishing. When she noticed Aiyana, she sneered and placed her hands on her hips.

"What's the help doing here?"

Aiyana stood and curtsied. "Good evening, Miss Holiday." She kept her eyes to the ground.

"You will look at me when you speak to me!"

"Yes ma'am," she said, raising her eyes. Catherine frowned.

"What are you always doing here anyway? Edward and I _never _get any alone time, thanks to you!"

"I'm always cleaning, ma'am."

"Are you getting sassy with me?!"

"No, ma'am!" Aiya said quickly. Edward could not take this much longer.

"Go clean somewhere else," Catherine barked.

"Yes, ma'am." Aiya looked at Edward again, and quickly scurried off.

Catherine's robin's egg blue eyes stared after her. "What a filthy little long, honestly. Does she not have a home of her own?" She sat down and fanned herself daintily.

Edward sneered at his so-called "fiancée." The Holiday family had moved from Georgia to Chicago two years ago. Edward's father had set up the engagement then, due to the family's amazing wealth, and Edward hadn't liked it.

He hadn't hated the idea until he met Aiyana.

He met Aiyana a year after the engagement, when Catherine's family insisted they get a maid. Aiyana and Edward were both 16. He'd found her stunning, absolutely gorgeous, and he had found a way to charm her.

Now they were both in love—but could do nothing about it. Aiya needed this job.

They hated that.

"When do you want the wedding to be?" Catherine purred, slinking over to him.

"How about never?" He snapped.

Catherine gasped and stepped back. "Why are you so against us being married? I am the prettiest girl in all of Chicago."

Edward said nothing, staring off in the direction Aiya went.

Catherine's eyes flickered to life.

"You're in love with the help, aren't you?! You're in love with that negro girl!"

"That is untrue," Edward forced himself to say. Catherine's fists curled in anger.

"Lies!" she screamed, running off towards Aiya. When she found her, she was cleaning the dining room. Catherine stood in the doorway. Aiya's back was turned to her.

Edward followed after Catherine. Was she going to fire Aiya?

"You're fired!" Catherine blurted. Aiya turned around, eyes moistening.

She let out a yelp when she saw Catherine.

Edward, just as he made it to the door, heard a loud "_bang_!"

Aiyana Simone Burwell had been murdered.

**(A/N: So what do you think? Like it? Love it? Hate it??? Good reviews make me smile and want to write! Bad ones DON'T.)**


	3. Chapter 3

**(Thanks for the reviews, guys! I want five before my next chappie. ^_^)**

_Cullen Mansion_

_Present Day_

"_The stars lean down to kiss you_,  
_And I lie awake and miss you  
Pour me a heavy dose of atmosphere…_"

Edward Cullen sat up in his bed, blinking his eyes rapidly. He had not been asleep, but he had been in a dreamlike, brooding state, reflecting on his life since Aiyana Simone Burwell, his first love and girlfriend, had passed away, and his becoming a vampire, up until now. His current love and girlfriend was Bella Swan.

Edward had found it the slightest bit strange that his radio alarm had gone off playing Vanilla Twilight as he was thinking about Aiyana, more often called Aiya as she insisted.

"'_Cause I'll doze off safe and soundly  
But I'll miss your arms around me  
I'd send a postcard to you, dear  
'Cause I wish you were here…"_

He slowly got dressed for school, still deep in thought. Why had he been thinking about Aiya so much? It was weird. And it didn't help that he couldn't talk to anyone about this.

"_I'll watch the night turn light blue  
__But it's not the same without you,_  
_Because it takes two to whisper quietly.  
The silence isn't so bad,  
'Till I look at my hands and feel sad,  
'Cause the spaces between my fingers  
Are right where yours fit perfectly…"_

Edward rushed out to his car, ignoring Emmett and Rosalie's offers to go to school with them, or Alice's comments that he could've worn something much more fashionable, and everyone and everything else, all of his bottled up emotions threatening to spill out. He hurriedly got into the Volvo and started up, cringing when he noticed that even this radio station was playing Vanilla Twilight.

"_I'll find repose in new ways,  
Though I haven't slept in two days,  
Cause cold nostalgia chills me to the bone.  
But drenched in Vanilla twilight,  
I'll sit on the front porch all night,  
Waist deep in thought because when I think of you.  
I don't feel so alone.  
I don't feel so alone.  
I don't feel so alone."_

Edward wanted to turn off the radio. He did, he really did. But he found himself unable. He formed his face into its usual cold, brooding stare as he neared Forks High School. He was fine. Nothing was wrong with him. Everything would be okay. He'd stop feeling like this soon enough.

"_As many times as I blink I'll think of you... tonight.  
I'll think of you tonight._

When violet eyes get brighter,  
And heavy wings grow lighter,  
I'll taste the sky and feel alive again.  
And I'll forget the world that I knew,  
But I swear I won't forget you,  
Oh if my voice could reach back through the past,  
I'd whisper in your ear,  
Oh darling I wish you were here."

He was glad that the song was ending. And today, he decided, he would forget all about Aiyana Simone Burwell.

* * *

"So are you coming over tonight, Edward?" Bella Swan asked as she and Edward Cullen walked to lunch together. "You didn't come over last night."

Edward smiled, and laced her hands in his. "Sure," he replied.

They silently walked, Edward groaning as everyone's thoughts came rushing in all at once.

"_She's so pretty!"_ Someone thought.

"_Mike and Eric are already fighting over her! Shiny new toy number two." _Jessica Stanley sighed.

"_Oh no, Eric likes her, too…" _Edward recognized this thought belonging to Angela Weber. Who were they talking about?

"_I love her shoes!"_

"_Why are we getting so many new girls?"_

"_She's not all that great."_

"_She's sexy as hell!"_

"_I bet ten dollars she's gonna go after Edward Cullen. Lucky bastard."_

"_I wonder how Bella's gonna take her being the new It Girl?"_

As Edward and Bella sat down, Edward's eyes scanned the length of the cafeteria for any new arrival. He didn't see anything.

"Who's everyone thinking about?" He asked his family as he sat down with Bella.

"Some new girl," Rosalie replied with a bored tone, leaning her head onto Emmett Cullen. Alice's eyes glazed over, and she zoned out for a moment. She gasped, and everyone turned to look at her.

"What's wrong?" Jasper asked.

"Nothing, Jazz," she replied. "I just got a vision, and it was kinda fuzzy, so I was just surprised…" She put on a smile, returning to her usual bubbly self, but Edward could tell something was wrong as she nervously glanced at Bella for a brief moment.

Edward read her mind.

"_In __mathematics__, the __Pythagorean theorem__, in __American English__, or __Pythagoras' theorem__, in __British English__, is a relation in __Euclidean geometry__ among the three sides of a __right triangle__, __right-angled triangle,__ in British English. It states that __in any right triangle, the area of the square whose side is the __hypotenuse__ (the side opposite the right angle) is equal to the sum of the areas of the squares whose sides are the two legs (the two sides that meet at a right angle)."_

Alice was hiding something.

"Edward?"

The whole cafeteria grew silent as Edward turned to look at whoever called his name. But he knew who it was. He'd recognize that spicy chocolate scent anywhere.

"Aiya?"

He eyed her up and down as she stood next to Mike Newton, who showed an anxious expression. It most certainly was her. Her long black hair, her caramel skin, her brown, almond shaped eyes…it was her, in the flesh.

"Edward!" she ran up to him, her heels clacking, and she hugged him tightly, grinning wide.

He involuntarily hugged back, smiling as well.

She let go and beamed, still holding on to his hand.

Bella cleared her throat beside him.

Mike shifted his weight.

It was so quiet, you heard a spoon drop from the other side of the cafeteria. Edward let go.

"Um, Aiya, this is Emmett, Rosalie, Alice, Jasper, my family," he started.

Her eyebrows furrowed. _Family_? She thought.

"And Bella, my…girlfriend."

_Girlfriend?!_

The Cullens and Bella nodded to her, save for Alice, who waved enthusiastically.

"Guys, this is Aiya. She's an old friend of mine."

"Hi," she chirped.

"Hi, Aiya," Alice sang, standing up and going to give Aiya a hug. "I can tell we're going to be great friends!"

"Cool," she said. Mike cleared his throat.

"Um, so, Edward, I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Okay."

She nodded and walked off at Mike, looking back over her shoulder.

He looked back at his table, who stared at him with questioning expressions.

_You got some major splaining to do! _Emmett thought.


	4. Chapter 4

**(A/N: Hey, loves! Thanks for reviewing! Review some more, and I'll upload the next chappie today. :D)**

"Who was that?" Bella Swan asked she and Edward Cullen drove back to her house. The car ride had been silent up until that point; Edward lost in his thoughts, Bella drowning in hers.

"Aiyana...Aiyana and I are friends from a long time ago," Edward said, his eyes never leaving the road. Bella shifted in the passenger's seat.

"How long ago?"

"About ninety years."

"Ninety years? Edward, how is that possible? Is she a vampire?"

"I myself am not quite sure why she is here," he said, dumbfounded. "She died back then."

"How?"

"Bella," Edward snapped. "Enough with the interrogations!"

Bella turned away from him, shocked. It was the first time Edward had ever raised his voice with her.

Edward couldn't bring himself to apologize, which was perplexing. Apologizing would mean that he would have to explain the situation. The less Bella knew, Edward decided, the better.

* * *

"ALICE!" Edward yelled, slamming the door to the Cullen Mansion. The house shook, and the foundation vibrated. Alice pirouetted down the stairs.

"Yes?"

"Why the hell were you thinking about the Pythagorean Theorem when Aiyana approached the table today?"

"Why, I was just going over what we learned in class today," Alice replied innocently, fluttering her eyelashes.

Edward growled. "Bullshit, Alice! What are you hiding?"

Alice faltered for a moment, and Edward used this as an opportunity to zero in.

_"Edward, please don't do this to me," Aiyana said, looking at Edward with a pleading look._

_"I love you, Aiya," was Edward's reply. He caressed her cheek. "I'll be here for you, day or night." He tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear. "The mutt doesn't deserve you."_

_"You've got Bella." She stated, almost inaudibly._

_"But I want you." He leaned towards her, his lips getting closer-_

Then everything faded. Alice cocked her head to the side, frowning. "You saw," she said.

Edward looked down at the floor. "What exactly...what exactly is going to happen?"

Alice sighed, realizing she had no way out of this. "Sit down," she said, plopping down onto the sofa. "It's a long, long story."


	5. Chapter 5

"...so do you want to go? With...me?" Mike Newton's voice rang out, capturing Aiyana's attention.

"What?" she asked, looking up from the display of small devices in the store. Everything was so different from when she was a teenager. They were at a RadioShack, one of the only electronic stores in the small, wet, rainy town of Forks, Washington. Jessica had found out that Aiyana didn't have a cell phone, so she insisted they go out and buy one. Angela, Mike and Eric decided to come with her.

"This one is cuh-yute!" Jessica shrieked, slapping a pink, flip phone into Aiyana's hand. It had a pink, star charm dangling off of it.

"I'm not too fond of pink," Aiya said, handing it back to Jessica. Jessica nodded.

"So, what color do you like?"

"Violet," Aiya replied, her eyes landing on a small, plastic device with what looked like a hook. She pointed to it. "What's that?"

"A Bluetooth headset," Angela informed, walking over to them. "Where did you say you were from?"

"Iceland," Aiya blurted. It was the first thing that came to her mind, because they had been talking about Iceland in history today. "I'm from Iceland."

"Like, a small town? 'Cause if you're from Reykjavik, I'm sure they had those there."

"Yeah, a small town," she looked away from them. "What's Eric doing?"

They all turned to look at him. He was playing a game on the Xbox 360 display. "Playing Halo," Mike informed. "It's a good game."

Aiya still looked confused, but nodded. Mike looked horrified.

"You've never played a video game!" Mike marveled. Aiya shrugged.

"Well, if you want to play one, maybe sometime you can come over, and—"

"Aiya, I think I see one you'll like," Angela said, pointing to a dark purple cell phone on the shelf. She picked it up. "It has a keyboard for texting, and a pretty, silver quarter moon charm hanging off of it. It has a camera, too!"

She handed it to Aiya, whose eyes lit up. "It's perfect," she said, smiling. "I'm gonna go pay for it."

"Eric, c'mon!" Angela called. He set down the controller and rejoined them.

"Did you find a good one?" Eric asked Aiya.

"Yeah," she said, pulling out her purse. "And Jessica says I should get unlimited minutes and text," She handed her money to the cashier.

"You dropped this," a husky, deep male voice said from behind them. Aiyana turned, and she met the deep, brown eyes of an extremely tall, muscular boy. They held eyes for what seemed an eternity. He slipped a tube of lip gloss in her hand.

"Hey, you're Jacob Black, right?" Jessica said, her eyes cutting over to Mike.

He broke his stare from Aiyana to look at her. "Yeah," he replied gruffly.

Jessica smiled. "This is Aiyana Simone Burwell," she said, pushing Aiya a bit closer to Jacob. "She just moved here from Iceland."

"Pleased to meet you," He said, extending his hand to hers. It was burning.

"You're so hot!" Aiya blurted. Jessica grinned, Angela giggled into her palm, and Eric and Mike shifted their weight.

"Thanks," he chuckled.

_I meant your body temperature! _She wanted to say, but she didn't want to put her foot in her mouth again.

"You're not so bad yourself," he said, grinning.

And Aiya smiled her biggest smile of the day.

**(A/N: Dun dun dun! The plot thickens! XD Now, I need 5 reviews, and go R&R Vision of an Angel, my other story, too!)**


End file.
